Apple made their announcements last week introducing their new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/apple-live-blog-new-iphone/

Dolby’s patent on their upward-firing Atmos-enabled speaker drivers includes their “Virtual Height Filter”, which is unique processing of the signal that makes the illusion work.

Having this patent allows Dolby to charge a licencing fee. But it also makes it highly unlikely that other “immersive audio” formats – such as Auro 3D or DTS-UHD – will be able to make use of the same upward-firing speakers:

http://www.google.com/patents/WO2014107714A1?cl=en

Dolby sent out a press release last week with further information regarding Atmos’ introduction to the home market. Included is the news that Paramount and Warner are on board (let’s hope the other studios will follow on quickly) and that “Transformers: Age of Extinction” will be the first (and for the moment, only) official Blu-ray release to include an Atmos in TrueHD soundtrack:

http://investor.dolby.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=869623

Included in Dolby’s press release were the names of several electronics manufacturers that have announced plans to release Dolby Atmos-related products. Among those companies listed was Outlaw Audio who took to their own forums to clarify that while they are working on a new Processor, customers should not expect its release until some time fairly late next year:

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=94436#Post94436

If you’re interested in Dolby ATMOS at home, this is the big one!

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-atmos/dolby-atmos-home-theater-installation-guidelines.pdf

Dolby released a white paper with a full description of where all 34 possible speakers are positioned…and their names!

Yup, every single speaker gets its own unique name and range of angles where it can be placed in relation to the main listening position.

Scott Wilkinson over at AVS Forum gathered up the news regarding the future launch of a 4K Blu-ray format.

Things are still not entirely clear, but the launch is now pegged for Christmas 2015:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/286-latest-industry-news/1674202-4k-blu-ray-newsa-you-can-buy-christmas-2015-a.html

AV Rant Listener Jonathan F. —

heard Lee Overstreet mention the DAK Catalogue during Lee’s guest co-hosting appearance.

Jonathan remembers the DAK Catalogue well, and shared the Wikipedia link for those of us who weren’t familiar with the 1/4″ thick, first-person-ad-filled tome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAK_Industries

AV Rant Listener Jared F. —

wanted to help out fellow AV Rant Listener Paul B. in his search for information on B&W’s P7 headphones.

Jared shared links to two “shootout” headphone reviews in which the P7 were evaluated:

LINK 1: http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-300ish-headphone/

LINK 2: http://www.marco.org/headphones-closed-portable

AV Rant Listener Michael S. —

might have found the ultimate in speaker decoupling: full levitation!

In all seriousness, this is just a gimmick. The claims of levitating the speaker in order to make it more efficient and louder are very dubious, indeed. But it looks cool! And, hey…magnets!

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/heres-a-new-bluetooth-speaker-that-levitates-yes-94533990674.html

AV Rant Listener Allen G. —

was interested in reading the PDF files on speakers and subwoofers that SVS had sent to Rob H.

They’re quite long, but if you’re willing to read them, there’s a ton of great information!

LINK 1: http://1drv.ms/1BFTb8P

LINK 2: http://1drv.ms/1BFTe4t

LINK 3: http://1drv.ms/1BFTiBg

LINK 4: http://1drv.ms/1BFTn7O

AV Rant Listener Jared M. —

was curious how Audyssey automatic setup would handle di-pole Surround speakers.

This is a good reminder that Audyssey recommends taking measurements at multiple microphone locations. But many people mistakenly think they are supposed to simply place the measurement microphone in every seat in their room. That is not the case. Instead, the idea is to start at the main listening position, and then measure to either side, in front of, and behind that main listening position. This allows Audyssey to get a good idea of the acoustics at and around the main listening position. And that is the goal:

http://1drv.ms/1oP9HLF

AV Rant Listener Jonathan F. —

wants to tailgate now that football season is here!

And he wants some big sound from a portable speaker system if he can get it at a good price.

Rob suggested checking out the G-Project G-Boom: http://gprojectgear.com/products/g-boom

And Tom suggested checking out whatever brand of cordless power tools you already own. Many power tool brands have cordless boom boxes that can use the same rechargeable batteries as your other cordless tools – example: http://www.dewalt.com/tool-categories/cordless-radio-chargers.aspx

ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re attempting to set up an interview with Chris Kyriakakis from Audyssey!

We know many of you have questions when it comes to Audyssey, and we’d love to get answers for you!

So this is your chance! Send us your questions by leaving a comment here, or by email:

Tom at AVRant dot com

Rob at AVRant dot com

ANNOUNCEMENT 2:

We’ve also extended invitations to both Josh Pollard and Richard Gunther from The Digital Media Zone!

They are experts in home theater PCs, smartphone integration, and home automation. So we would love for our listeners to send in questions about those topics so that we can discuss them with Josh and Richard!

Please ask your questions in the comments here, or by email:

Tom at AVRant dot com
Rob at AVRant dot com